Setting up your fall garden must sound like a difficult task if you’re new to gardening or are only familiar with summer gardening. I do not blame you, because millions of other people think the same too. However, here’s a pleasant surprise: fall gardening can be fun, and highly productive. But how is this done?
5 Tips For Setting Up Your Fall Garden
Most of us hate to see our summer garden wither, which is the chief reason we have a below-par fall garden. Actually, what you should know is that you must have started planning for your fall garden several weeks before your summer garden goes barren. However, as many of us hate to see all our efforts of several weeks go to waste, we can’t help but obsess unnecessarily with the summer garden, which will stop producing crops anyway. By the time we decide to focus on the fall garden, it’s usually too late.
A fall garden, if well managed, can put fresh food on your table throughout the winter. Brussel sprouts, kale, and some other plants can survive below freezing temperatures and are common in fall gardens. If they are your thing, there’s no reason not to set up a fall garden. Plus, if you were to be in the wild, do you even have a choice?
Below, we’ll look at five tips for setting up your fall garden.
Timing
Wrong timing is the commonest mistake of people setting up a fall garden. We are quick to assume that September is the right month to start, but we are unfortunately wrong, chiefly because most of us want to optimize our summer garden. The ideal time to start putting up your fall garden is around August, or perhaps as early as July.
By treating these plants to the long, intense summer sun, their seedlings are prepared to withstand extreme conditions and become very resistant to spoilage. A common problem associated with this garden is that you do not see considerable growth on the part of seeds planted late. I suggest that you get your crops and start planting your broccoli, and Brussels very early before the summer garden runs out.
Trust me here; my fall gardens are always flourishing.
Crops To Cultivate
There are plenty of crops that can do well in a fall garden, among which you may have some favorites. Remember that not all plants will survive during fall. Here are the four most recommended plants to have in your fall farmland.
Butternut Squash
Butternut squashes grow like vines and are excellent producers. They are an all-round plant for the whole family, as they can be eaten directly, fed to your canine buddies, and used to make pumpkin ties. What’s more, their growth temperature is possible during fall.
Dark Leafy Greens
First, dark leafy greens have many health benefits, so not growing them would be a silly thing. They do not require much from you to grow fine either, plus some of them (for example, red beets) will provide your garden with greens & roots.
English Peas
These climbers make for a very delicious meal. And if you’ve always thought they are crops for the summer, knowing that you can have them crawling up your walls in the fall must be a pleasant surprise.
Carrots
Garlic, carrots, and a couple of other crops can do very well in overwinter. Because of this, you have no reason not to cultivate them and enjoy their fruits. However, they may freeze at a time, and you’d have to wait until the next spring before you can eat them. But when you wait, you’ll be delighted at how delicious they still taste even after the cold winter days.
Re-nourishing the Soil
Most forget that the soil gets depleted, and so they just continue to plant in the same garden without helping to reinvigorate the soil. The soil is even worse if it was used to plant crops in spring or summer. To return its nourishment, you’ll have to add fish fertilizer, compost, and other materials that help the soil. Remember, you have to add these things, else you’ll have a hard time reaping good rewards from the garden.
I don’t see the need to emphasize this, as everyone knows the soil is crucial to a plant’s growth. Feed your soil with fertilizer, manure, and whatever will help it regain its nutrients.
Watching The Sun
Another essential factor to consider for the success of your fall garden is the sun’s position. You have to understand the movements of the sun, to plan the layout of your garden. During fall, getting direct sunlight may be difficult, so you have to be careful of where and how you plant. Remember that if your garden is not getting at least 4 hours of direct sunlight, they will hardly grow well. So, keeping the limited availability of direct sunlight in mind, the ideal place to plant is the sunniest that will continue to get sunlight regardless of how limited the supply becomes.
Preserving Your Harvest
When preparing for a bountiful fall garden, you have to consider the means of preserving harvests as well. Crops you get from your fall garden could be what you have to eat during winter, provided you store them properly. There are various ways to do this: canning, dehydration, drying, and storing in root cellars. Some roots like carrots can be left un-harvested in the soil.
If you do not have a standard storage system in place, you’ll be throwing food away or, at best, giving away to people. This is not advisable when the chips are down. You have to preserve some food for the future. Saving food for later is highly advisable.
Concluding The Tips For Setting Up Your Fall Garden
As you have read, setting up your fall garden is not a difficult thing to do. You just have to know when to let your summer garden go, so you can prepare sufficiently for the fall. Stick to the tips advised above and have yourself a bountiful harvest from your fall garden.
